Status  and  Extent  of  American 


AN  ADDRESS  BY 

THOMAS  J.  VIVIAN, 

(In  Charge  of  Transportation  Statistics,  U.  S.  Census,') 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

WORLD’S  WATER  COMMERCE  CONGRESS 

IN  ITS  SIXTH  SESSION, 

AT 

CHICAGO,  AUGUST,  1893. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C.  : 

JUDD  &  DETWEIEER,  PRINTERS. 

1893. 


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THE- 


Status  and  Extent  of  American  Domestic 
Water  Commerce. 


An  Address  by  Thomas  J.  Vivian,  Delivered  before  the 
World’s  Water  Commerce  Congress  in  its,  Sixth 
Session  at  Chicago,  August  3,  1893. 


ARGUMENT. 

That  while  our  foreign  carrying  trade  has  undoubtedly  diminished, , 
the  increase  in  our  domestic  carrying  trade  has  been  largely  com¬ 
pensatory  ;  that  this  domestic  commerce  has  developed  during  the 
last  few  years  into  an  industry  of  extraordinary  extent;  that  our 
entire  carrying  fleet  is  larger  than  Great  Britain's ;  and ,  that  the 
area  of  our  domestic  commerce  is  so  vast  that  the  distances  made 
in  average  trips  on  inland  waters  cover  many  of  the  distances 
made  in  England's  foreign  voyages. 


It  would  be  simply  going  behind  the  records  to 
minify  the  fact  that  what  is  generally  called  our 
“  carrying  trade  ”  is  neither  what  it  was  nor  what  it 
should  be.  The  facts  and  figures  of  the  case  are  too 
clear  and  too  overwhelming  to  admit  of  any  such 
voluntary  shortsightedness.  When  we  see  that  in 
1856  the  values  of  the  imports  and  exports  coming 
into  and  leaving  our  ports  on  foreign  vessels 
amounted  to  $159,336,576,  while  those  carried  on 


4 


American  vessels  reached  the  heavy  figures  of 
$482,268,274,  and  then  that  in  1866  the  value  of  the 
exports  and  imports  carried  on  our  vessels  had 
shrunk  to  $325, 7JL  1,861,  while  those  on  foreign 
vessels  had  risen  to  $685,226,691 ;  that  when  the 
next  decade  had  been  rounded  the  value  of  our 
exports  and  imports  carried  under  the  stars  and 
stripes  had  still  further  diminished  to  $311,076,171, 
while  those  brought  to  and  taken  from  our  ports 
under  “the  meteor  flag  of  England”  and  other 
foreign  bunting  had  grown  to  $813,354,987  ;  and 
that  finally,  in  1886,  the  value  of  the  export  and 
import  trade  of  our  ports  on  American  vessels  had 
still  further  dwindled  to  $197,349,503,  while  that  of 
the  export  and  import  trade  on  foreign  vessels  had 
swelled  to  $1,073,911,113 — when  we  see  these  things, 
I  say,  it  would  be  mid-summer  madness  to  deny  that 
we  have  fallen  out  of  the  race,  and  that  our  flag  now 
flutters  feebly  and  seldom  where  once  it  was  a  brave 
and  frequent  sight.  Figures,  I  know,  are  not  the 
most  exhilarating  form  of  literature,  yet  in  such 
arguments  as  mine  they  must  claim  a  place.  A 
few  examples  of  that  concrete  form  known  as 
percentages  I  shall  ask  you  to  remember,  as,  for 
example,  that  in  1856,  out  of  the  total  value  of  our 
exports  and  imports  American  vessels  carried  75  per 
cent. ;  that  in  1866,  out  of  a  similarly  formed  total 
American  vessels  carried  only  66  per  cent. ;  that  in 


5 


1876  we  only  carried  33  per  cent.,  while  in  1886  we 
carried  bat  15  per  cent.,  which,  in  the  language  of 
vulgar  fractions,  means  that  in  30  years  we  fell  from 
the  gallant  height  of  a  little  over  three-quarters  of 
the  whole  to  the  insignificance  of  something  under 
one-sixth. 

Unfortunately  this  part  of  the  story  grows  worse 
as  it  grows  longer,  and  wre  find  that  in  the  Census 
year,  which  is  the  period  in  which  I  am  particularly 
interested,  the  actual  figures  stood  as  follows  :  Value 
of  the  exports  and  imports  of  the  United  States 
carried  in  American  vessels,  $202,451,086 ;  value 
carried  on  foreign  vessels,  $1,371,116,744,  while  our 
percentage  had  shrunk  to  12.  The  complete  returns 
would  show  you  that  in  1890  we  were  actually  carry¬ 
ing  freight  of  less  than  half  the  value  of  that  carried 
in  1860  (the  exact  figures  of  the  earlier  year  were 
$507,247,557),  and  that  in  1890  we  carried  over 
$50,000,000  worth  of  freight  less  than  the  foreign 
vessels  did  in  1860.  Lastly,  it  will  no  doubt  interest 
you  sadly  to  learn  that  the  percentage  of  freight 
carried  on  American  vessels  in  1890  was  the  lowest 
it  had  ever  touched  up  to  that  date — that  is,  12.29, 
which  means  that  in  the  topsiturviness  of  trade  the 
foreign  vessels  carried  87.71  per  cent.,  a  greater  pro¬ 
portion  by  12  per  cent  than  we  ever  carried. 

The  figures  1  have  just  given  you  are  of  the  sort 
which  are  employed  by  pessimists  when  preaching  of 


6 


the  decadence  of  our  merchant  marine,  and  of  course 
are  incontrovertible.  But  it  is  not  all  Ichabod ;  there 
is  a  small  amount  of  glory  left;  there  is  quite  a 
little  commerce  still  done  under  the  American  flag, 
and  the  shipbuilding  yards  of  the  nation  are  not 
altogether  deserted.  During  the  30  years  ending  in 
1890  our  records  show  that  we  built  1,747  ships  and 
barks,  575  barges,  12,423  schooners,  and  17,359 
sloops  and  other  small  craft — a  total  of  32,104  sail¬ 
ing  and  unrigged  craft,  representing*  5,159,605  tons 
of  tonnage,  together  with  10,652  steamers  having  a 
total  tonnage  of  2,864,066  tons — a  grand  aggregate 
of  42,756  craft  of  all  kinds,  having  a  tonnage  of 
8,023,671  tons,  or  #an  average  annual  addition  of 
1,379  vessels  of  258,828  tonnage-tons  to  our  fleet. 
Not  so  bad  for  a  nation  with  a  dead  “  carrying  trade.” 

Unrigged  Craft  a  Legitimate  Part  of  Our 
Commercial  Fleet. 

When,  too,  one  quits  the  retrospective  and  comes 
to  look  at  the  actual  condition  of  affairs,  things  are 
not  exactly  cheerless.  Divided  according  to  their 
mode  of  propulsion,  we  place  the  numbers  and 
tonnage  of  the  United  States  steam  and  sailing  fleet 
for  the  Census  year  as  follows: 

Sailing  vessels. . . .  8,917  craft  of  1,791,071  tons. 

Steam  vessels .  0,067  craft  of  1,818,386  tons. 

Total . 14,984  craft  of  3,615,457  tons. 


7 

But  my  contention  is  that  these  figures  do  not 
accurately  represent  the  water  transportation  equip¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States,  and  that  because  of  cer¬ 
tain  exigencies,  local,  topographical,  and  commercial, 
we  require  a  large  unrigged  fleet  which  is  as  essen¬ 
tially  a  part  of  that  equipment  as  the  freight  cars  are 
essentially  a  part  of  a  railroad’s  equipment.  These 
unrigged  do  not  include  canal-boats,  nor  must  it  be 
supposed  that  they  are  small  and  inexpensive  vessels. 
Their  aggregate  number  according  to  the  Census  re¬ 
ports  is  10,561,  with  a  carrying  capacity  of  4,008,847 
tons,  or  an  average  tonnage  per  craft  of  380  tons. 
In  the  Mississippi  valley,  where  we  show  that  at  least 
6,339  of  these  unrigged  craft  find  employment,  the 
average  tonnage  is  502  tons,  while  on  the  Great  Lakes 
it  is  453  tons.  Both  on  the  lake  and  river  barges  steel 
is  being  largely  used  as  a  material  of  construction,  and 
the  tendency  in  each  locality  is  to  increase  both  the 
average  capacity  and  value  of  this  kind  of  craft. 
Putting  all  these  classes  together,  we  find  that  our 
entire  fleet  numbers  25,545  craft,  with  a  tonnage  of 
7,624,304  tons.  You  will  not  find  all  these  figures  in 
the  reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Navigation, 
because  since  1884  the  registration  of  unrigged  (ex¬ 
cept  in  certain  branches  of  trade)  has  been  both 
optional  and  limited.  It  amounted  in  1890,  for  in¬ 
stance,  to  but  1,240  craft,  with  an  aggregate  tonnage 
of  341,042  tons,  with  an  average  tonnage  of  but  275 
tons. 


8 


Wh  en  it  comes  to  a  question  of  values  the  figures 
are  no  less  weighty,  nor  do  they  any  the  less  plainly 
show  that  our  shipping  industry  is  not  so  near  the 
moribund  gasp  as  many  good  people  seem  to  imag¬ 
ine.  What  was  asked  for  by  the  Census  schedules 
and  agents  was  “  the  estimated  commercial  value  ” 
of  the  craft,  and  while  this  phrase  was  under¬ 
stood  variously,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  the 
figures  which  I  shall  give  represent  a  conservative 
appraisement  of  the  constructions  as  they  float.  The 
value  of  the  8,917  sailing  vessels  is  thus  figured  up 
to  be  $57,275,727,  an  average  of  $6,423  per  craft ; 
that  of  the  6,067  steam  vessels  at  $140,813,570,  an 
average  of  $23,210  per  craft;  and  that  of  the  10,561 
unrigged  craft  at  $16,931,039,  an  average  of  $1,603 
per  craft — an  aggregate  value  for  the  entire  fleet  of 
25,545  vessels  of  $215,020,336,  an  average  of  $8,417 
per  craft.  Add  to  these  figures  $25,000,000  for  shore 
property  and  we  have  a  total  amount  of  $240,020,336, 
while  the  total  amount  invested  has  been  estimated  at 
$275,000,000,  an  amount  that  must  mean  quite 
extended  interests. 

One  of  the  most  popular  of  “  interests  ”  in  any 
industry  is  that  which  touches  the  number  of  people 
to  whom  it  gives  employment  and  the  money  it  pays 
out  in  wages.  The  interest  on  investment  is  a  very 
entertaining  thing,  no  doubt,  but  the  financial  topic 
never  has  the  same  popular  interest  that  the 


9 


industrial  lias.  The  figures  collected  under  this 
head  of  the  inquiry  show  that  the  total  of  persons 
employed  to  make  up  the  ordinary  crews  of  all 
operating  vessels  numbered  109,861,  while  the  men 
.employed  wholly  or  partially  during  the  year 
nunqbered  240,288.  The  wages  paid  out  to  these 
people  were  $39,684,936. 

This  was  not  the  only  disbursement,  however,  and 
the  financial  account  of  our  floating  institution  is 
not  one  to  be  kept  in  a  petty  cash  book.  In  the 
Census  year  the  gross  earnings  of  everything  afloat 
(and  reporting)  amounted  to  $144,800,954,  out  of 
which  were  paid  $114,531,690  as  expenses,  leaving 
$30,269,264  as  net  earnings,  which,  as  such  of  you 
gentlemen  as  are  lightning  calculators  will  have 
figured  out,  is  11  per  cent,  of  return  on  the  estimated 
capital  investment  of  $275,000,000,  or  17  per  cent, 
of  return  on  the  present  valuation  of  $240,000,000  for 
the  floating  property  and  its  shore  attachments. 
Into  the  other  details  of  the  expense  account  I  cannot 
at  present  go,  although  I  promise  you  they  contain 
some  very  interesting  figures.  I  must  not  refrain, 
however,  from  making  one  other  exception  in  regard 
to  the  item  of  fuel.  The  totals  of  this  account  show 
that  in  the  year  in  question  our  steamers  burned  for 
fuel — fuel  applied  to  steam- making,  I  mean — no  less 
than  4,585,031  tons  of  coal  and  415,242  cords  of 
wood,  representing  a  total  fuel  expense  of  $15,668,459. 


10 


Nor  must  I  overlook  the  fact  of  much  significance 
that  outside  of  wages  and  fuel  the  expense  account  is 
largely  made  up  of  such  items  as  provisions  and  re¬ 
pairs,  classes  of  expenditure  which  mean  the  free  and 
wide  distribution  of  millions  among  millions — and 
this  I  take  to  be  the  diapason  of  the  great  economic 
anthem. 

Not  all  the  fleet  that  I  have  been  speaking  of  is 
engaged  in  traffic  operations — that  is,  in  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  freight  and  passengers.  The  list 
includes  also  pilot-boats,  fishing  vessels  and  yachts, 
crafts  whose  tonnage  is  registered  and  which  in  them¬ 
selves  offer  means  of  employment,  but  which  neither 
carry  nor  are  given  to  carriage.  These  no-traffic 
vessels  are  not,  however,  very  many,  amounting  in 
number  to  966,  with  a  tonnage  of  39,398  tons,  and  in 
value  to  $7,281,720,  which  sums,  being  deducted 
from  the  original  figures,  give  the  equipment 
statistics  of  those  craft  which  are  either  directly  or 
indirectly  engaged  in  transportation  at  24,579  in 
number,  with  a  tonnage  of  7,584,906  tons,  and  at 
$207,738,616  in  value. 

Coming  down  to  the  actual  traffic  records  of  the 
Census  we  find  that  it  received  reports  of  operation 
from  22,079  craft  conducting  transportation.  Of 
these  2,282  were  steamers  and  6,837  were  sailing- 
vessels  engaged  in  carrying  freight  and  passengers, 
their  united  tonnage  being  2,912,693  tons;  455  were 


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ferry  steamers,  with  a  tonnage  of  146,099  tons;  1,944 
were  steamboats  engaged  in  towing  freiglit-laden 
barges,  with  a  tonnage  of  145,805  tons,  while  the 
barges  so  towed  numbered  10,561,  with  a  tonnage  of 
4,008,847  tons.  The  total  tonnage  of  this  reporting 
traffic  fleet  of  22,079  craft  was  7,213,434  tons  and 
its  value  $184,126,053,  which  shows  that  the  Census 
received  reports  on  nearly  90  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
traffic  fleet. 

The  report  of  operations  made  by  these  traffic  craft 
is  in  some  respects  a  remarkable  one,  the  freight 
moved  having  been  no  less  than  168,078,320  tons, 
and  the  passengers  carried  having  been  199,079,577  ; 
in  the  pursuit  of  which  business,  by  the  by,  these 
vessels  traveled  107,456,164  miles. 

Compensating  Statistics  of  Our  Domestic 
Carrying  Trade. 

Unless  I  have  been  speaking  to  no  purpose  you 
will  by  this  time  be  ready  to  inquire  how  the  undeni¬ 
able  statistics  of  the  decline  of  our  “  carrying  trade  ” 
given  in  the  first  part  of  this  paper  can  be  reconciled 
with,  what  it  is  presumed  are,  the  equally  undenia¬ 
ble  statistics  just  given  to  illustrate  the  present  ex¬ 
cellent  condition  of  transportation  by  water,  and  I 
should  be  paying  you  a  very  poor  compliment  if  1 
did  not  say  that  I  was  sure  you  had  arrived  at  the 
true  method  of  reconciliation.  There  is  plenty  of 


12 


progress  and  activity  in  the  business  of  our  trans¬ 
portation  by  water,  but  it  is  not  upon  the  high  seas 
that  we  must  look  for  it.  When  the  uncomprehen- 
sive  statistician  talks  of  the  decline  and  death  of  our 
u  carrying  trade  ”  he  forgets,  or  does  not  choose  to 
specify,  that  it  is  that  branch  only  of  the  “  carrying- 
trade”  which  is  conducted  on  the  great  ocean  high¬ 
way  between  the  ports  of  this  country  and  the  ports 
of  other  countries,  and  he  omits  to  point  out  the  com¬ 
pensatory  fact  that  our  salvation  is  found  in  the 
statistics  of  that  branch  of  our  carrying  trade  which 
is  conducted  from  domestic  port  to  domestic  port 
along  our  sea-shore,  and  in  that  which  is  conducted 
upon  our  inland  waters. 

Let  us  look  at  a  few  of  the  figures  embraced  in  this 
compensatory  fact  : 

You  may,  perhaps,  remember  my  saying  just  now 
that  our  shipbuilding  records  for  the  years  1860  to 
1890,  inclusive,  showed  an  added  tonnage  during  that 
period  of  8,023,671  tons,  and  we  now  find  that  out  of 
that  aggregate  1,172,416  tons  were  built  on  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  river  and  its  tributaries,  and  1,508,101  tons 
on  the  Great  Lakes,  a  total  of  2,680,517  tons  built  on 
these  inland  waters  as  against  5,343,154  tons  built  on 
the  entire  seaboard  of  the  United  States.  Looking 
at  these  figures  somewhat  more  in  detail,  we  find 
that  in  1860,  out  of  a  total  of  214,798  tons,  44,962 
tons  were  built  on  inland  waters  and  169,836  tons 


13 


on  the  seaboard  ;  that  in  1870,  out  of  a  total  of 
276,953  tons,  94,117  tons  were  built  on  inland  waters 
and  182,836  tons  on  the  seaboard  ;  that  in  1880,  out 
of#a  total  of  157,410  tons,  55,690  tons  were  built  on 
inland  waters  and  101,720  tons  on  the  seaboard; 
while  in  1890,  out  of  a  total  of  294,123  tons,  125,032 
tons  were  built  on  inland  waters  and  169,091  tons  on 
the  seaboard.  Put  in  the  percentage  form,  these 
figures  indicate  that  in  1860  the  shipbuilding  yards 
on  the  inland  waters  turned  out  21  per  cent,  of  all 
the  tonnage  built  in  the  United  States  ;  that  in  1870 
they  turned  out  34  per  cent.  ;  that  in  1880  their  per¬ 
centage  was  35,  and  'that  in  1890  it  had  risen  to  43 
per  cent. 

One  peculiar  fact  about  these  figures  is  that  the 
tonnage  built  on  the  seaboard  in  1890  was  just  the 
same  as  it  was  in  1860 — 169,000  tons  in  each  year. 
Another  peculiar  fact  is  that  shipbuilding  on  the 
Mississippi  river  and  its  tributaries  has  apparently 
suffered  a  decline.  In  explanation  it  should  be  stated 
that  the  figures  of  construction  which  I  have  been 
giving  you  are  confined  to  the  United  States 
Treasury  records  of  registered  craft.  It  is,  as  I  have 
shown,  from  the  Mississippi  valley  that  the  largest 
accession  of  unrigged  craft  is  made  to  the  United 
States  fleet,  and  as  the  registration  of  these  unrigged, 
it  will  be  remembered,  is  now  optional  and  very 
limited,  the  figures  of  registered  construction  fail  to 


14 


do  justice  to  the  industry  of  vessel-building  in  the 
Mississippi  valley.  The  third  peculiar  fact  in  con¬ 
nection  with  these  figures  is  the  wonderful  develop¬ 
ment  of  shipbuilding  on  the  Great  Lakes.  In  1860 
the  tonnage  built  in  the  yards  of  these  inland 
seas  was  but  11,992  tons — indeed,  in  the  preced¬ 
ing  year  it  was  only  just  over  6,000  tons — and 
from  these  figures  it-  went  gallantly  up  year 
after  year,  23,000  tons,  39,000  tons,  56,000  tons, 
73,000  tons,  and  so  on,  until  in  1890  it  reached 
108,526  tons,  or  within  60,000  tons  of  the  tonnage 
built  round  about  the  United  States  seaboard  from 
Machias,  in  northern  Maine,  to  Puget  sound,  in 
Washington. 

Returning  next  to  the  entire  floating  equipment 
of  the  Census  year,  we  find  that  of  the  total  tonnage 
of  7,624,304  tons,  4,319,735  tons  belonged  to  the 
Great  Lakes  and  Mississippi  valley.  In  the  matter 
of  financial  accounts,  we  find  that  out  of  the 
$144,800,954  of  gross  earnings,  the  Lake  fleet  re¬ 
ported  for  $35,636,163  and  the  Mississippi  fleet  for 
$7,651,248 — a  total  for  these  two  localities  of 
$43,287,411  ;  that  out  of  the  $114,531,690  which 
were  paid  for  expenses,  $28,033,651  were  paid  by  the 
Lake  fleet  and  $6,580,356  were  paid  bv  the  Missis¬ 
sippi  fleet,  a  total  for  these  two  localities  of 
$34,614,007,  and  that  out  of  the  total  of  $30,269,264 


15 


of  net  earnings  the  Lake  fleet  secured  $7,602,512 
and  the  Mississippi  fleet  $1,070,892,  a  total  for  these 
two  localities  of  $8,673,404. 

Interesting  Figures  of  Localization  and 

NOTEWORTHY  FACTS  OF  COMPARISON. 

If  we  take  up  the  two  details  of  fuel  and  wages 
which  were  specified  when  considering  the  expense 
account  of  all  the  operating  steamers,  we  find 
that  out  of  the  4,585,031  tons  of  coal  burned 
for  steam-making,  1,541,907  tons  were  used  by 
the  Lake  steamers  and  372,729  tons  by  those 
of  the  Mississippi  valley ;  and  that  out  of  the 
$15,668,459  which  this  fuel  (tost,  $4,113,278  were  paid 
by  the  Lake  steamers  and  $1,335,812  by  the  steamers 
of  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  number  of  men,  you 
will  remember,  to  whom  employment  was  given  by 
all  operating  craft  during  the  Census  year  was  240,288, 
to  whom  was  paid  as  wages  $39,684,936.  Out  of 
this  number  of  men  42,150  were  employed  on  the 
Great  Lakes,  and  out  of  this  amount  there  were  paid 
$8,140,430  as  wages  to  the  lakemen,  while  32,792 
persons  received  employment  on  the  Mississippi 
Valley  fleet,  to  whom  was  paid  $5,338,862. 

The  figures  of  localization  respecting  those  craft 
distinctively  engaged  in  traffic  operations  are  equally 
interesting,  an  investigation  of  the  records  showing 
that  out  of  the  22,079  steamers,  sailing  vessels,  and 


unrigged  engaged  in  the  transportation  of  freight 
and  passengers,  9,708  were  employed  on  the  Great 
Lakes  and  the  rivers  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  The 
account  of  sailing  vessels  and  unrigged  craft  on  the 
respective  waters  is  nearly  equally  balanced  by  the 
offsets  springing  from  the  exigencies  of  locale  to 
which  I  have  already  referred,  but  the  steamer  ac¬ 
count  presents  a  very  plain  showing  of  the  relative 
importance  of  the  inland  water  traffic.  The  figures 
collected  by  the  Census  Office  give  the  Atlantic 
coast,  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  Pacific  coast  2,581  traffic 
steamers  (that  is,  freighters,  towing  and  ferry-boats), 
and  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  Mississippi  valley  2,100. 
The  tonnage  of  the  sea  steamers  is  given  at  807,702, 
and  that  of  the  fresh-water  steamers  at  756,981 ; 
while  the  value  of  the  sea  steamers  is  quoted  at 
$69,861,165,  and  that  of  the  steamers  on  inland  waters 
at  $48,205,332.  Calculations  will  show  these  figures 
to  indicate  that  the  inland  waters  owned  45  per  cent, 
of  the  total  number  of  United  States  freight  steamers, 
48  per  cent,  of  their  tonnage,  and  41  per  cent, 
of  their  value.  In  view  of  these  figures  it  will 
not  surprise  you  to  be  told  that  out  of  the  168,078,320 
tons  of  freight  moved  by  the  traffic  fleet  of  the 
United  States  82,829,478  tons  (or  a  trifle  over  49  per 
cent.)  were  moved  by  the  freighting  craft  of  the  inland 
waters,  the  Mississippi  river  boats  moving  29,405,046 
tons  and  the  Lake  fleet  moving  no  less  than  53,424,432 
tons. 


17 


The  legitimate  importance  of  the  unrigged  craft*  in 
our  mercantile  fleet  can  be  appropriately  shown  here 
by  the  fact  that  of  the  river  freight  the  amount 
actually  transported  on  steamers  was  10,345,504  tons, 
while  that  carried  on  the  barges  and  towed  by  the 
steamers  was  19,059,542  tons. 

Although  a  large  bulk  of  our  inland  water  com¬ 
merce  is  that  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  rivers  of 
the  Mississippi  valley,  the  fact  must  not  be  over¬ 
looked  that  this  country  in  its  enormous  territorial 
area  includes  other  rivers  and  closed  seas  on  which 
there  is  conducted  a  bulky  commerce  on  craft  that 
never  heel  over  to  a  sea  breeze.  On  the  Hudson 
river,  on  the  Delaware,  on  the  Georgian  streams  and 
those  of  Alabama,  on  the  Texas  reaches  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  on  the  great  Bay  of  San  Francisco  and  its 
tributary  rivers,  far  up  on  the  Snake  and  Willamette, 
on  the  mighty  Columbia  and  on  the  unplummed 
waters  of  Puget  sound  a  big  water  trade  is  carried 
on  that  is  as  distinctively  inland  as  that  on  the  shift¬ 
ing  Missouri  or  on  these  Brethren  of  the  Sea  that  lie 
about  us,  and  that  amounted  in  the  Census  year  to 
the  movement  of  nearly  12,000,000  tons  of  freight. 

Nor  do  these  figures  set  the  limit  of  our  domestic 
water  commerce,  for  as  yet  we  have  taken  no  notice 
of  that  portion  of  it  which  is  engaged  in  what  is 
known  as  the  coasting  trade — that  is,  as  1  have  said, 
in  trading  from  domestic  port  to  domestic  port  along 


18 


our  seashores.  In  these  occupations  the  traffic  craft 
registered  at  the  Atlantic  coast  ports  carried  72,705,973 
tons  of  freight,  while  those  similarly  engaged  on  the 
Pacific  coast  carried  8,111,278  tons  of  freight,  a  total 
of  80,817,251  tons.  If  now  we  gather  up  the  various 
figures  of  our  domestic  commerce  the  result  will  line 
out  somewhat  as  follows  : 


Freight  movement  of  the  Great  Lakes, 

wholly  domestic .  53,424,432  tons. 

Freight  movement  on  the  rivers  of  the 

Mississippi  valley,  wholly  domestic. . .  29,405,046  “ 

Domestic  commerce  on  the  Altantic  coast 

and  Gulf  of  Mexico .  72,705,973  “ 

Domestic  commerce  on  the  Pacific  coast..  <8,111,27(8  “ 


Making  a  total  of .  164,646,729  “ 

Add  to  these  figures  the .  20,747,932  “ 

of  canal  traffic  - 

And  we  have  a  total  freight  movement 

on  our  inland  waters  of .  185,394,664  “ 


When  one  reads  or  hears  these  figures,  so  close 
to  the  200,000,000  mark,  figures  which  give  the  best 
indication  that  I  can  imagine  of  what  our  domestic 
commerce  on  water  really  is,  one  becomes  compara¬ 
tively  reconciled  to  the  fact  that  our  foreign  commerce 
amounted  in  the  Census  year  to  the  movement  of  but 
4,431,591  tons  of  freight — that  is,  freight  brought 
into  and  carried  from  United  States  ports  on  United 
States  vessels  flying  the  United  States  flag. 

It  was  not  without  some  foreboding  that  I  ven- 


19 


turecl  upon  any  comparative  statistics,  but  I  was 
soon  delighted  to  find  that  we  were  not  going  to 
suffer,  even  in  the  odious  process  of  comparison.  I 
resolved  to  take  for  my  basis  the  greatest  maritime 
country  of  the  world,  that  country  which  is  nearly  all 
water  and  somebody  else’s  land,  Great  Britain  ;  and 
especially  Great  Britain,  as  it  is  the  country  that 
does  seven-tenths  of  our  foreign-carrying  trade  for  us. 
The  chief  difficulty  in  Instituting  the  comparison  was 
to  find  a  standard  of  classification,  and  the  following, 
while  measurably  correct,  cannot  be  regarded  as 
strictly  accurate.  Dealing  only  with  those  vessels 
engaged  in  traffic,  we  see  that  while  in  the  Census 
year  Great  Britain  had  <5,968  vessels  engaged  ex¬ 
clusively  in  the  foreign  trade,  with  a  tonnage  of 
6,595,445  tons,  we  only  listed  686,  with  a  tonnage  of 
636,691  tons.  Of  vessels  engaged  in  mixed  foreign 
and  domestic  trade,  Great  Britain  had  760,  with  a 
tonnage  of  185,026  tons,  while  we  had  601,  with  a 
tonnage  of  237,694  tons.  Of  vessels  engaged  ex¬ 
clusively  in  domestic  trade,  Great  Britain’s  account 
was  10,826,  with  a  tonnage  of  860,683  tons,  while  ours 
was  12,731,  with  a  tonnage  of  2,701,674  tons.  But 
so  far  1  have  dealt  only  with  the  steamers  and  sail¬ 
ing  vessels  of  both  nations,  and  here  again  my  con¬ 
tention  is  that  our  unrigged  craft  should  certainly  be 
added  to  our  domestic  mercantile  fleet.  With  this 
addition,  our  contingent  engaged  in  the  home  trade 


20 


rises  to  23,292  craft,  with  a  tonnage  of  6,710,521 
tons,  while  the  totals  of  the  two  fleets  stand  as 
follows:  Great  Britain,  17,554  craft;  the  United 
States,  24,579.  Great  Britain’s  tonnage,  7,641,154; 
the  United  States’  tonnage,  7,584,916 — less  than 
40,000  tons  behind  Great  Britain  in  the  tonnage 
account,  and  7,025  craft  ahead.  So  you  see  the  case 
does  not  look  so  very  desperate  after  all. 

A  reduction  of  these  figures  to  averages  shows  that 
though  Great  Britain’s  foreign  fleet  averaged  1,105 
tons  per  vessel,  while  the  average  of  our  foreign 
traders  was  only  928  tons,  yet  the  average  tonnage 
of  Great  Britain’s  domestic  fleet  was  only  80  tons 
per  craft,  while  that  of  our  domestic  fleet  was  212 
tons  without  the  unrigged,  and  286  tons  per  vessel 
including  the  unrigged. 


Distances  on  our  Rivers  and  Lakes  Equal  those 
Made  by  English  Vessels  on  Foreign 
Voyages. 

The  success  which  attended  this  branch  of  com¬ 
parative  statistics  tempted  me  to  pursue  another — 
this  time  into  the  question  of  distances  traveled  by 
our  domestic  trading  craft  as  compared  with  many 
of  the  distances  traveled  by  Great  Britain’s  foreign 
trading  craft.  The  proposition'  sounds  rather  pre¬ 
sumptuous  at  first  hearing,  but  a  little  investigation 
will  show  the  idea  to  be  anything  but  far-fetched. 


21 


Our  tables  of  trips  and  mileage  show  the  average 
distance  of  the  trading  trips  on  the  Great  Lakes  to 
be  566  miles,  while  the  figures  kindly  furnished 
me  by  the  Hydrographic  Survey  show  the  distance 
from  Hull  to  Hamburg  to  be  but  387  miles,  from 
London  to  Helgoland  to  be  but  408  miles,  from 
Plymouth  to  Bordeaux  to  be  468  miles, while  even  the 
apparently  very  foreign  trip  from  Plymouth,  in  the 
west  of  England,  to  Coruna,  in  Spain,  is  but  530 
miles. 

The  average  distance  of  trading  trips  on  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  river  is  759  miles,  while  the  trip  from  Sun¬ 
derland  to  Copenhagen  is  586  miles,  and  that  to 
Drontheim,  in  Xorway,  is  695  miles  ;  from  Liverpool 
away  down  to  Vigo  is  735  miles,  and  from  Plymouth 
to  Lisbon  is  755  miles. 

But  the  figures  just  given  for  our  domestic  trips 
are  only  those  of  average  routes,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  when  one  comes  to  consider  the  foreign  places 
lying  within  the  ratio  of  miles  from  British  ports 
which  can  be  covered  by  the  extreme  routes  on  the 
rivers  and  lakes,  the  list  becomes  a  very  much  longer 
one — geographically  speaking.  It  can  be  said,  for 
example,  and  with  truth,  that  while  the  average  dis¬ 
tance  on  the  Great  Lakes  is  566  miles,  the  lake  routes 
include  that  from  Ogdensburg  to  Duluth,  which  is 
1,285  miles  ;  and  that  while  the  average  distance  on 
the  Mississippi  is  759  miles,  the  river  routes  include 


22 

that  from  St.  Paul  to  the  Head  of  the  Passes,  a  dis¬ 
tance  of  1,780  miles.  By  comparing  the  extreme 
Lake  distance  with  those  between  British  and  other 
foreign  ports,  we  find  that  from  Shields  away  over  to 
Riga,  in  the  Baltic,  is  but  1,053  miles,  and  that  from 
Sunderland  clear  up  to  the  northernmost  point  of 
Norway — that  is,  the  island  of  Mageror — is  ,5  miles 
less  than  from  our  New  York  to  our  Minnesota  lake 
ports.  By  comparing  the  extreme  river  distance 
with  those  between  British  and  other  foreign  ports, 
we  find  that  from  London  to  Kronstadt  is  but  1,383 
miles,  that  from  Sunderland  out  over  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Azores  is  but  1,740  miles,  and  that  from  Glasgow, 
in  bonny  Scotland,  to  Algiers,  in  burning  Africa,  falls 
5  miles  within  the  limit  of  extreme  distances  on  the 
Father  of  Waters. 

When  we  come  to  coast  distances  we  cover  a  very 
much  more  extensive  field  of  Great  Britain’s  foreign 
commerce.  The  average  distance  made  by  our  coast- 
ting  craft  on  the  Atlantic  coast  and  Gulf  of  Mexico  is 
377  miles,  but  these  coast  routes  also  include  that  from 
Calais,  in  Maine,  to  Point  Isabel,  in  Texas,  which  is 
2,597  miles.  Looking  at  Great  Britain’s  ventures 
over  foreign  seas  we  find  that  the  trader  from  London 
to  Genoa  makes  a  trip  of  but  2,219  miles,  that  the 
ship  bringing  currants  from  Corfu  to  Liverpool 
travels  but  2,510  miles,  and  that  the  collier  carrying 
coal  from  Cardiff,  in  Wales,  to  Patras,  in  Greece, 


23 


makes  but  2,455  miles.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  scarcely 
straining  a  point  to  sav  that  our  coast  routes  include* 
traffic  "between  New  York  and  San  Francisco,  which 
is  13,610  miles,  or  even  between  New  Bedford,  on  the 
Maine  gulf,  and  Olympia,  on  Puget  sound,  which  is  a 
trifle  over  15,000  miles.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only 
2,685  miles  from  London  to  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia  ; 
only  3,000  miles  from  London  to  Sierra  Leone,  in 
Africa  ;  only  6,065  miles  from  London  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope;  only  8,745  miles  from  London  to  Ade¬ 
laide,  in  Australia ;  only  11,755  miles  from  London 
to  Nagasaki,  Japan,  and  only  12,120  miles  from  Lon¬ 
don  to  the  bottom  of  the  world  at  Aukland,  New 
Zealand. 

The  domestic  commerce  of  the  United  States  is  in¬ 
deed  an  incomparable  industry ;  there  is  no  country 
in  the  world  which  has  anything,  or  which  can  have 
anything,  approaching  it.  The  United  States  has  a 
coast  line  that  stretches  for  no  less  than  10,455  miles. 
It  contains  within  its  borders  the  largest  lacustrine  sys¬ 
tem  on  the  globe,  the  combined  area  of  the  Great  lakes 
being  95,080  square  miles,  or  more  than  half  the 
world’s  area  of  fresh  water.  The  Mississippi  and  its 
tributaries  offer  7,898  miles  of  navigable  river,  the 
Missouri  and  its  tributaries  add  3,108  miles  to  that 
length,  and  the  Ohio  and  its  tributaries  embrace 
4,406  miles  of  navigation,. a  total  for  the  great  valley 
of  15,410  miles ;  the  rivers  emptying  into  the  Pacific 


24 


ocean  give  us  2,351  miles  of  navigable  streams  ;  those 
flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  other  than  the  Mis¬ 
sissippi  give  us  2,870  miles  and  those  flowing  into  the 
Atlantic  ocean  2,874  miles,  an  enormous  total  of 
23,505  miles  of  navigable  rivers,  a  water-way  that 
only  lacks  a  little  of  being  long  enough  to  belt  the 
world.  The  foreign  carrying  trade  may  have  tem¬ 
porarily  passed  out  of  our  hands  between  the  stress  of 
competition  abroad  and  the  dead  weight  of  apathy  at 
home,  but  we  are  still  traders,  we  still  have  a  merchant 
marine.  Along  the  shining  streams  of  Maine  ;  be¬ 
tween  the  hundred  ports  of  Long  Island  sound ;  along 
the  steaming  glades  of  the  southern  water-courses; 
across  the  drab  waves  of  San  Francisco  bay  ;  in  Puget’s 
waters,  where  the  pines  stand  thick  around  Vancouver, 
and  far  up  in  Bering’s  closed  sea  there  is  a  commerce 
carried  on  that  grows  each  year  in  value  and 
extent,  and  that  is  full  of  pay  and  power  and  promise. 
But  it  is  a  commerce  that  needs  fostering  care. 
The  value  of  that  grand  fluvial  system  which 
stretches  across  from  Pennsylvania  to  Nebraska, 
and  which  runs  from  Dakota  to  the  Gulf,  must 
never  be  underestimated  ;  the  effect  for  wealth  and 
civilization  that  lies  in  our  Great  Lakes  must 
never  be  undervalued,  and  the  heritage  of  our 
myriad  harbors  must  never  be  bartered  or  lost. 


